Friday, July 4, 2014

Genesis - Images


Images




 Blessed are you, O God,
who created the world with a word
and who fashioned your people 
from dust and from delight. 
In our waking, may we know you breathing in us, 
breathing through us, 
creating us anew
with your longing and love. 
Jan Richardson

Words help us to attach meaning to things.  They help us communicate with others.  Words can draw pictures, can tell stories, and describe our feelings.  But even with the most beautiful and accurate language, words can fall short.  Even for those of us that love words, there comes a time when it feels like a necessity to step back from them.  There are times when there is nothing new to say, nothing left to express.  There are times when we should all take time to step back and watch, listen and be.  

Last week I spent 6 days in a guided silent retreat.  I spent Monday finishing up my tasks here and wound my way across the state of Massachusetts, to Westfield Mass.  The Genesis Spiritual Life and Conference Center was my destination.  

Over the last 20 years I have done silent retreats many times.  They have varied in length and location.  One of the things I have found fun over the years are peoples reaction when they  find out I am going to be silent for any amount of time. They either say, 'I couldn't or wouldn't want to do that', or they get a real kick out of thinking that, I, of all people would like silence.  The truth is, I love it.  The truth is I have found it to be restorative, restful,  and enlightening.  

Why? We all use language to communicate, but some of us are communicators for a living.  Those of us that teach, write, lead in any way, come to know that words and communication is one way that God uses us most effectively.  We also know that we can become empty or drained in ways that we must come to know and understand.  
As I walked up the ramp toward the registration desk, something inside me started to calm.  I looked around and saw many women that had been here many times.  Many were sisters of different orders from around the Catholic Diocese of Mass.   I knew no one.  I did not feel alone.  I was not in charge, I needed to listen and learn.  I did not need to use words in any unnecessary way. 

 "Here is your key to room 16, do you know where that is?" 
"No", weary smile. 
"Up those stairs, and to the right." 
"Thanks so much." 

As I unlocked my door, which was the last time it was locked during my stay, I saw a simple, yet inviting room.  Two twin beds, covered in quilts.  A desk, a couple of lamps and a recliner chair, that became a good friend. The walls were cinder block, painted light green.  Two windows, one with an air conditioner, Yeah!  A simple sink, drawers, and a closet to hang my things.  This would be my home for the next week.  

Words.  I was tired of them.  I was tired of trying to find the right ones, tired of reading them, tired of speaking them.  I was tired.  


That evening we met in prayer, broke bread together and went into silence.  For the next 6 days we wandered around this beautiful property, not talking.  Early in the week, we seldom made eye contact.  It was a time of peace, quiet, watching, being.  God can speak to us, when we are quiet.  God can come to us in those unexpected places when we are quiet.  



"Be still and know that I am God."

Early on in the week it became clear to me that I was not going to even write much.  I was going to use images.  I was going to use my camera.  I was going to look around my world and see, really see it.   

"It cultivates what I call sacred seeing or seeing with the "eyes of the heart" (Ephesians 1: 18). This kind of seeing is our ability to receive the world around us at a deeper level than surface realities." 

 This a quote from a book called; "Eyes of the Heart, Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice," by Christine Valters Painter.  Thank you Julia Stackpole for referring me to it.  

I spent time looking at the world around me.  Noticing images.  Here are a few:  







   

Words are powerful and wonderful.  Words can explain things, tell stories, and attach meaning to ways of being and feeling we would have no other way to express.  By allowing myself to step back and not use words, and focus on images, I was able to see in a new way.  

As the week unfolded it was amazing how I could just feel the calm come back into my body.  The gift of presence was palpable.  The community that was formed around me was interesting and blessed.  

As I packed my bags and began the journey of return, I was leery.  Not of those I return to.  Not of my work or my life.  I was leery of  being called back into the busy world we live in.  How could I bring that sacred indwelling of the spirit with me?  More importantly, how could I continue to be present to the ever present indwelling that is God?  

As with all of our other life lessons, it is a process.  It is only with God's help.  It is with enormous gratitude that I know to be silent, to step back, to listen.  

The fourth of July is tomorrow and the people are here.  The busy
 world surrounds us.  It's great to be back.  I am so blessed to be able to share with you, using the blessed word, some of my experience.  

May God Bless you and may you know that sacred indwelling that is God.